The DTV Guide

What’s in it

Written from applying at the London embassy for two DTVs, one workcation and one spouse, and then living here on it for a year.

• The supporting documents, in full. The employment contract, the sponsorship letter and the accountant’s letter — what each one has to say, and a prompt you can use to draft them. This is the part that gets people refused and the part nobody writes about.
• The rules that changed on 31 August 2026. You now have to apply in a country you are a national or permanent resident of, and every applicant needs a police clearance certificate. What that means in practice, what the certificate is, and how long it takes to get one.
• A checklist you can work through. Everything you need before you open the application, split by which DTV you’re going for.
• What it actually costs. The application, the proof of funds, the refundable flight, and what a month here really comes to once you’re living it.
• The 90 day report and the TM30. Including the thing that catches everybody: leaving and coming back means the TM30 has to be done again, and the arrival card does not do it for you. (The free calculator gives you the date; the guide is what to bring.)
• Border runs. How the 180 days actually resets, and why a five year visa is really five and a half.
• 27 questions answered. The ones from the comments, including the ones people get confidently wrong.

Who wrote it

Adam & Melody, Pattaya

I’m Adam. My wife Melody and I left the UK in August 2025 and moved to Thailand on a DTV — mine a workcation, hers a spouse visa, both through the London embassy. This guide is what we learned doing it, including the parts we got wrong the first time.

It is not legal advice and it is not a promise of approval. Rules change and the decision is always the embassy’s. What it is, is the honest version of the process from somebody who has been through it.